


Repentance

by vials



Category: Our Kind of Traitor - John le Carré
Genre: Betrayal, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-30 21:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10885587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vials/pseuds/vials
Summary: Luke's best agent has a change of heart and a slim chance at surviving his betrayal being discovered. Luke, unfortunately, is the sacrifice.





	Repentance

Luke had known something wasn’t right about the meeting as soon as he had arrived, but because he was an idiot who always trusted people too easily the second he had a single reason to do so, he of course ignored it. 

He had barely had the time to think it all through, anyway. The phone call had interrupted a dinner that he had only just sat down to, and it had been under Eloise’s deadly glare that he had had to excuse himself again. He went out of the kitchen and into the hallway, picking up the phone and snapping a quick ‘what?’. 

“I’m sorry,” said a familiar voice deliberately trying to sound unfamiliar. “I do hope I’m not disturbing you. I’m looking for Juan? I think this is the number he gave me.”

Luke felt his heart drop down into the pit of his stomach. His brain briefly refused to cooperate, and then he swallowed and remembered the protocol.

“There’s no Juan living here,” he replied, just as briskly as he had delivered the initial hello. “You have a wrong number. Try another apartment in the building. Same number, a difference of twenty in the last two digits. Maybe you just got the wrong flat.”

“Ah, yes, I think that is what I’ve done,” said the voice. “Thank you. Sorry for disturbing you.”

The phone clicked dead, and Luke stood in the silence and heard the real meaning echoing around his head. _There’s been an emergency, I need to see you now_ , and _hold tight, usual place, twenty minutes_.

He had been putting on his shoes when Eloise had re-emerged from the kitchen, and Christ, he had forgotten about dinner entirely.

“So I suppose you’re leaving again?” she had asked, folding her arms. “You can’t even stay for half an hour to eat dinner with your son?”

“I’m sorry,” Luke had said, sincerely. “I really am. It’s an emergency, Eloise. It’s unavoidable. Someone is in trouble.”

He could tell Eloise wanted to argue with him, but something on his face must have convinced her that this time, at least, was an emergency by her standards as well as his.

“At least say goodbye to Ben,” she had told him, and thank god, Luke had decided to give her that. He had dashed into the kitchen to where Ben was sitting at the table, eating his dinner already; briefly Luke registered the sad sight of seeing the child sitting there alone, but his eyes were glued to the book he had brought to the table against his mother’s wishes and he didn’t even look up as Luke had leaned over, kissed the top of his head, and then ruffled his hair.

“Gotta run out, kiddo,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow sometime, yeah? Be good for mum.”

“Yeah,” Ben said.

“Love you.”

“Yeah.”

“ _Love you_ , Ben.”

“Love you too, dad.”

He would be glad for the exchange later. In fact he would cling to it – the only thing that evening that he had done right. Eloise had allowed him a peck on the cheek on his way past, and then he had been running out into the warm night, forcing himself to slow his pace as he reached his car. It was well-disguised, blending in to the other dilapidated motors that lined the streets of the places Luke found himself in all too often, but underneath its shabby exterior it was a reliable little thing. Ordinarily he wouldn’t have drawn such attention to himself this late at night, but it was an emergency after all, and it was more dangerous to walk the streets at this time. He made it to his destination with five minutes to spare and climbed up to the apartment he and Hector used as a meeting place, finding Hector already waiting for him there.

“Suppose I wasn’t quite honest with you,” Luke had said, coming into the room. “I was only fifteen minutes.”

That was the moment he had known something was wrong. That was the moment he knew he should have turned and run, because in hindsight he realised he would have had time. He was early, nobody else had been in position yet. He had time to run. He had time to get back to his car. He had time to get back to work, to warn everybody that the unthinkable had happened. But hindsight was no good to him then, and so he had stayed, putting Hector’s clear discomfort down to nerves.

“What happened?” he asked. He knew the answer before Hector told him.

“They found out about what we do,” he said simply, shaking his head. He was pacing slightly now and Luke was rooted to the spot, still trying to pinpoint what was so wrong. “Or at least, I think they have. I am ninety-nine per cent certain that they have, and I am not taking any risks. I need to get out of here, Luke. You said you would help me, yes?”

“Well, of course I’m going to help you,” Luke said, and it was much easier to fall into the role of saviour than think about why his gut was telling him to bail. Christ, he wished he had listened to it. “I need to know more details, though. How sure are they? Are they looking for you? How many people would be able to point you out? Do you have any friends or family who need to be hidden as well?”

Hector shook his head, which struck Luke as odd. What struck him as even more odd was the look on Hector’s face when he looked back at Luke; instinctively, he supposed, Luke took a step back.

“I’m afraid it’s too late for all of that,” Hector replied quietly. “I am very sorry, Luke. You must understand. I thought I was doing the correct thing but now I realise that there is no good in it. I thought perhaps with my contribution I would be able to make a change, clean up my country a little bit. But nothing had got better. In fact it has only gotten worse. I will be doing myself and my family no favours by continuing to inform on my own people. They might not be perfect but they do more for us than law enforcement does. They look after us. They bring money in. They punish criminals. I was a fool to go against them for a moment.”

“Hector, no,” Luke said warningly. “You know that’s not what it’s like at all. You live in fear. You told me that when you first came to me. You wanted to get your family out of here and I told you I could help make that happen. Don’t you remember?”

“I made a mistake,” Hector said, giving a small shrug. “It happens, Luke. I made a terrible mistake but it’s OK now, you see? They were merciful. If they were not merciful I would not be standing here talking to you.”

 _I wish you weren’t_ , Luke thought, from nowhere, but he said nothing. 

“Mateo, my boss, you know of him,” Hector said, and it was a formality rather than a question because of course Luke knew who Mateo was. He had only been trying to pin him down for over a year, and had wanted to for much longer but had had no agents to do it with. Hector was supposed to have been that agent. Luke supposed he could kiss goodbye to that now. 

“Yes, I know Mateo,” Luke said, his teeth clenched. “He was the one you described as a sadistic son of a bitch sociopath, if I recall.”

Hector smiled thinly, shaking his head. 

“I was scared,” he said. “We all do stupid things when we are scared, but I had no reason to be. Mateo said he was disappointed in me, deeply, and that there would be a lot of changes once all of this was said and done. But he said he appreciated my honesty and believed I was truly sorry, so he was going to give me a second chance.”

“You know that’s a lie,” Luke said hurriedly. He thought he knew the direction this was heading in and he thought perhaps now was the time he should be trying to escape, but a part of him knew it was probably useless. They were at the scheduled meeting time now. There would be people on their way up the stairs probably at this moment; if there weren’t, there would be people at his car. “You know they’re just going to kill you, Hector. They’re going to use you for whatever it is they have in mind, and then they’ll kill you and your entire family. You’ve seen what Mateo has done to people. You know that’s going to be you.”

“Mateo is a man of his word,” Hector said firmly. “He said that if I handed you over to him, he would not kill me.”

“Maybe he’ll just put your eyes out instead, like he did to the last sorry bastard he promised that to?”

“No,” Hector said. “He told me you would say that.”

“Hector –” Luke began, but he knew it was too late. There were footsteps outside in the hallway now, the door opening. Luke stared at Hector as though he couldn’t quite believe the whole thing was real, and Hector at least had the decency to look ashamed.

“You’re a traitor,” Luke said, simply, and Hector frowned.

“No. I was. Not anymore. I am sorry, Luke. But I have to do what is right.”

“This is _not_ what is right!” Luke burst out, but that was all he had time for before something heavy collided with the back of his head and he went immediately to his knees. 

There was nothing but shouting and the sound of feet scuffing on the floor around him; Luke spotted a gap in the legs surrounding him and threw himself at it, getting as far as three feet away from the door before a hard kick to the ribs caught him by surprise. His head throbbed and he could taste blood, though he didn’t know if it were real or imaginary. It certainly became real at that moment, because somewhere between when he had been laying on the floor and when he had been dragged to his feet someone had hit him in the mouth, or in the nose, because something was bleeding and filling his mouth with blood. Luke was vaguely aware that he must have been struck by one of the guns he could see being brandished around; tonguing his teeth, he thought one of them might be chipped. 

Through it all he could only make out Hector, suddenly, clearly, standing exactly where he had been standing before. He looked pale, his jaw set but his eyes betraying the shock he was feeling; as Luke looked at him he met his gaze and Luke, his head swimming, managed a smile, the blood coating his teeth.

“You’re just… so, so, stupid,” he said, shaking his head, the room tilting as he did so. He had just enough time to see Hector’s face go slack with doubt, and then another briefly registered crack to the side of his head sent him spiralling down into blackness.


End file.
